Korean Street Food is Love

Korean Street Food is Love

Ever since Hallyu or the Korean Wave swept Asia, many Filipinos have become exposed to a variety of South Korean cultural exports. Television dramas like Lovers in Paris, Stairway to Heaven, and My Girl all became immensely popular, even as Korean pop music icons like Super Junior performed in sold-out concerts in Manila.

Koreans themselves have come by the thousands to the Philippines to study English or to start their own businesses. As a matter of fact, they are now the second biggest foreign group living in the country and are topped only by the Americans. As Korean tourists, businessmen, and students enter the country, they are also bringing with them their language, their fashion, and their culinary traditions.

In Manila alone, there are now hundreds of authentic Korean restaurants owned by Koreans and Filipinos alike. And aside from food establishments that offer a formal dining set-up, there are now also many stalls in weekend food markets which serve Korean food street-style, like the pojangmachas in Seoul do.

I personally love Korean street food because they are just so palatable, and most of them are also splendidly colored – a veritable feast for both the eyes and the tongue. However, because of my low tolerance for extreme spice and because I don’t eat red meat, I usually have my orders personalized so that my food won’t get too spiced up or just contain vegetables and sea foods. Here are some of my favorites:

Haemul Pajeon (해물파전). Haemul Pajeon is a pancake-like dish. The batter is mixed with various ingredients like seafood, scallions, bell peppers, and other vegetables and then pan-fried to perfection. Try it with beer or soda.

Japchae (잡채). Japchae is very interesting for me because its noodles are unlike anything we have in the Philippines. The noodles, called dangmyeon, are also known as cellophane noodles. They are very similar to our native sotanghon but they are never made as thick. The dangmyeon noodles are cooked with vegetables like onions, carrots, bell peppers, spinach, and mushrooms. Your choice of meat is also added, and then the whole thing is flavored with soy sauce and sugar. Sometimes, Japchae is served as a side dish to rice, too.

Dolsot Bibimbap (돌솥 비빔밥). Dolsot bibimbap is a mixed rice meal (bibimbap) that is cooked in a stone pot (dolsot). Rice is served in a very hot stone bowl along with sautéed zucchinis, mushrooms, bean sprouts, spinach, tofu, gim, cucumbers, a raw egg, and your choice of meat. It is flavored with a chilli pepper paste known as gochujang. The pot or bowl is so hot that it cooks the egg, and the underside of the rice becomes of heavenly, golden brown color.

Tteokbokki (떡볶이). Tteokbooki is another well-known Korean snack food usually sold in the streets. Tteokbokki’s main ingredient is tteok, a cylindrical cake made from glutinous rice. Slices of tteok are mixed with spices, meat, vegetables, and egg and is broiled in water. It is then topped with walnuts and gingko nuts, and sometimes, cheese is also added to create a richer flavor.

Matang (마탕). Matangs are like little jewels made from cubed sweet potatoes that have been coated with caramelized sugar and fried to a crisp. When done right, it should have a delicious, hardened crust but the sweet potato cubes inside should remain soft. It’s very similar to camotecue, a Filipino streetfood; but unlike its Philippine counterpart, these Korean gems are not skewered on sticks.

Korean informal cuisine is truly a gustatory marvel that everyone should discover. There are many more street foods that should be on this list but I leave it up to you to try to discover them in your local Korean restaurant or in the pojangmachas in your city.

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